Rhombohedral-wing aircraft for vertical take-off and/or landing

Abstract

The aircraft (10) comprises a fuselage (11) and a rhombohedral wing structure (12) comprising front wings (13, 14) mounted on a front wing-root support (17) and rear wings (15, 16) mounted on a rear wing-root support (18).At least two wings (13, 14) support an engine (24, 26) provided with a propeller (25, 27).The rear end of the fuselage supports an engine (21) provided with a propeller (22).The aircraft comprises means (28 to 35) for tilting said engines, the rotary shaft of each of the propellers being tilted between an orientation parallel to the main axis of the fuselage and an orientation perpendicular to the main axis of the fuselage and to an axis extending through the ends of the front wings.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. Aircraft comprising:
 a fuselage having a main axis extending along a horizontal plane and a vertical axis extending along a vertical plane, said main axis passes through a center of gravity of the aircraft; 
 a rhombohedral wing structure comprising a pair of left and right front wings mounted on a front wing-root support coupled to a front bottom portion of said fuselage and a pair of left and right 
 rear wings mounted on a rear wing-root support coupled to a top rear portion of said fuselage; 
 wherein an end of said right front wing is connected to an end of said right rear wing forming a right junction, and an end of said left front wing is connected to a free end of said left rear wing forming a left junction; 
 wherein each of the right and left junctions includes a horizontal angle defined between the front and rear wings, said horizontal angle extends with respect to said horizontal plane, and wherein each of the right and left junctions further includes a vertical angle defined between the front and rear wings said vertical angle extends with respect to said vertical plane, such that said front and rear wings form together a complete rhombohedral wing structure rhombus on said horizontal plane and said vertical plane; 
 at least two front engines provided with a propeller, each engine being mounted on one of the front wings; and 
 a rear engine provided with a propeller and being mounted on a rear end of the fuselage; 
 wherein each of the front engines and the rear engine includes a rotary shaft configured to rotate the propellers between a parallel orientation in which the propellers are disposed in parallel with respect to the horizontal plane of the fuselage and a perpendicular orientation in which the propellers are disposed in perpendicular with respect to the horizontal plane of the fuselage; and, 
 wherein each of the front engines and the rear engine includes a rotary shaft configured to rotate the propellers between a parallel orientation in which the propellers are disposed in parallel with respect to the horizontal plane of the fuselage and a perpendicular orientation in which the propellers are disposed in perpendicular with respect to the horizontal plane of the fuselage; and, 
 wherein, in said parallel orientation the centers of the propellers of the front engines are positioned above the main axis and the center of the propeller at the rear end of the fuselage is positioned below the main axis, and in said perpendicular orientation the centers of the propellers of the front engines are positioned below the main axis of the fuselage and the center of the propeller at the rear end of the fuselage is positioned above the main axis. 
 
     
     
       2. The aircraft according to  claim 1 , wherein the axis that is perpendicular to the main axis of the fuselage and to the axis extending through the ends of the front wings, and which extends through the center of gravity of the aircraft, passes through an escribed triangle extending through the propellers. 
     
     
       3. The aircraft according to  claim 1 , wherein a concavity of the fuselage at the rear end of the fuselage constitutes a housing forming a protective cowling for the rear propeller, the blades of the rear propeller traversing this concavity when the rotary shaft of the propellers is parallel to the main axis of the fuselage. 
     
     
       4. The aircraft according to  claim 1 , wherein the front wing-root support forms a landing skid. 
     
     
       5. The aircraft according to  claim 1 , wherein the engines of the wings are mounted on the neutral torsional axis of the front wings. 
     
     
       6. The aircraft according to  claim 1 , wherein the engines are at the apexes of an isosceles triangle whose smallest angle is less more than 45 degrees. 
     
     
       7. The aircraft according to  claim 6 , wherein the smallest angle of the triangle formed by the engines is more than 50 degrees. 
     
     
       8. The aircraft according to  claim 1 , wherein the propellers of the engines borne by the wings are positioned above the wings when the shafts of these propellers are in an orientation perpendicular to the main axis of the fuselage. 
     
     
       9. The aircraft according to  claim 1 , wherein the propellers of the engines borne by the wings are positioned upstream from the front wings, in the direction of flight of the aircraft. 
     
     
       10. The aircraft according to  claim 1 , wherein the wing-root supports are positioned respectively below and above the fuselage. 
     
     
       11. The aircraft according to  claim 1 , wherein a vertical surface for closing wing ends is positioned at each junction of the front and rear wing ends. 
     
     
       12. The aircraft according to  claim 11 , wherein landing skids are formed from vertical extensions to the base of the vertical surfaces for closing wing ends. 
     
     
       13. The aircraft according to  claim 1 , wherein the fuselage has no vertical tail.